Our history

Left: We marked our presence during the extensive debate over the General Spatial Development Plan (GSDP)

Right: "Will they block the GSDP?" - this is how Głos Wielkopolski reported on our very first press conference (11/21/2007)

We coalesced around My-Poznaniacy as result of six consecutive and partially related events that occurred between the Falls of 2005 and 2007.

First, in the Fall of 2005 a peaceful demonstration for celebrating UNESCO’s International Day for Tolerance in Poznań was suddenly outlawed. Because demonstration took place anyway as a sign of civil disobedience, the police was ordered to quell it, and it did so brutally. Demonstration organizers and the many arrestees have eventually won legal suits against decision-makers, but this incident taught us that civic action does not have to be approved nor applauded by those in power.

Second, the European Union opened infringement procedures against the Polish government for consenting road investments that could significantly damage protected sites in the Rospuda Valley. Many people from all over Poland rushed to Rospuda to show their support for EU’s decision, and meet resistance from a significant part of the local population. There we learned that conflicts over space can be very contentious, that interests do not always have to be convergent, and that citizens’ voice will not be heard unless they make it so by taking up initiative.

Third, a military airbase was established in our city, and Poznań remains the only city in Europe that hosts such an institution within its borders. Because the airstrip for F-16 aircrafts is literally above our heads, this has severely reduced the quality of life in Poznań. When fierce resistance towards the airbase erupted in the adjacent Marlewo district, people from other parts of Poznań joined in to express their solidarity. This is when we realized that what is often described as a “local” problem of a single community is actually a problem pertaining to the entire city. But only a city-wide alliance would be able to voice is thus.

At the same time a series of public discussions were held at Poznań’s legendary Teatr Ósmego Dnia – the very symbol of peaceful civic resistance of the 1980s. Some of us started meeting up over there. Heated debates on some current vexed social, political and economic issues unfolded. It was during one of such events that somebody pointed out that "General Spatial Development Plan" (GSDP) for Poznan will soon be passed and that we should partake in shaping it.

We started frequenting sessions where details of the GSDP were being discusses, and there we meet even more grassroots activists from Poznań’s various corners who too were disenchanted with the way key decisions were being taken without consulting those who are actually mostly concerned – the people of Poznań. We started informing the media about what we saw and thought, and what was originally intended to be a fairly automatic top-down legislative procedure burst out into a city-wide discussion on urban policy objectives and planning. Although the authorities originally intended to pass the GSDP within three months, the debate continued for nearly a year. Thereby, a veritable Pandora’s box of urban discontents was opened. In November 2007, half way through the debate on the GSDPwe gathered together as My-Poznaniacy, and we officially registered in court in May 2008.

Poznań was Poland’s only city where such an extensive debate over a GSDP erupted. Yet, recently similar civic movements have mushroomed in other major cities, and they managed to halt some key legislation that was aimed at complete deregulation of spatial development. We have already established co-operation with them.

Left: We put forward our vision of Poznań's spatial development

Right: We could not vote on the GSDP but we could exert pressure on those who did

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